Iran sentences 2 women journalists to 3 years for ‘colluding with hostile countries’

A revolutionary court in Tehran accused Negin Bagheri and Elnaz Mohammadi of “assembly and collusion” and “cooperation with hostile countries.”

Tehran: The Iranian authorities have ordered a three-year prison sentence for two women journalists for ‘colluding with hostile countries’, local media reported.

A revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced Negin Bagheri and Elnaz Mohammadi.

Amir Raisian, Mohammadi’s lawyer, told the reformist Ham Mihan daily newspaper on Saturday, September 2, that the two journalists will serve part of their sentences, and the rest will be suspended for five years.

Journalists are also subject to a five-year “travel ban” and are prohibited from engaging in “professional activities related to the crime committed” or having interactions with individuals active in foreign media.

Elnaz Mohammadi, a reporter for the reformist newspaper Ham Mihan, is the sister of Elaheh Mohammadi, a journalist who reported Mahsa Amini’s death in September 2022.

She was arrested in February but released on bail about a week later.

Bagheri, who works for a Haft-e Sobh newspaper and is a women’s rights activist, was released on bail after being summoned, charged, and temporarily detained in February.

Iran witnessed a wave of protests after the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman on Friday, September 16, 2022, following her arrest in Tehran.

She was detained against the background of her failure to adhere to the Islamic dress code.

More than 90 journalists have been arrested or summoned by the Iranian authorities since the protests.

The protests involved people from all walks of life and different sects in Iran after Amini’s killing.

Iranian women are at the fore in the demonstrations, in which many young people participate, to chants of “Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator.”

The protests represent one of the country’s boldest challenges since the 1979 revolution.

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